Storm the Castle B

[pokegman]

I have a few question on the event, mainly the rules:
1) Our rails are on a downward angle, so we wont accidentally fire and so we can pass the dryfire energy test. is this legal?
2) is it considered a violation of the energy rule that the arm and counterweight are on the same axle (since the center of gravity drops)?
3) The rule that states all parts of the trebuchet must be unassisted and in the launch are after the firing of the projectile: Our arm hits a wooden bar then richochets back straight up in a position that is UNASSISTED. is that also legal?
4) how does deerskin sound 4 a pouch?

FYI it is a FAT
Thanks a lot!!!

[Friedoyster3]

In my regional, we had a 1.972kg mass and a 40gram racket ball and most of the shots from other teams were from 3-8 meters I'm guessing. My team's target was placed at 16meters(I plan on making this closer to 20meters for state). Let's just say we won STC and our regional. We had the only FAT which proves the awesomeness of FATs. Also, the CW was 17cm instead of the 15cm it should have been, this shows that you should be prepared for a slightly larger CW than 15cm.

[Tredude]

My friend and I are doing the Storm the Castle and have built a trebuchet and have done some test and created some graphs. We are not sure what the calculation page is all about. Does anyone have an example of what we need to have?

[wlsguy]

My friend and I are doing the Storm the Castle and have built a trebuchet and have done some test and created some graphs. We are not sure what the calculation page is all about. Does anyone have an example of what we need to have?

Basically you need to tell the judges how you use your graph to set the target distance.

This is an example of the content of our page without the related graphs and title at the top.
The actual page has small cutouts of the actual graph with lines to show how to use it.
I added indications where these should be added.

1) Receive the Counterweight (CW) and Projectile (Pr) from the judges. These will be 1.6 kg and 32g in this example.

2) Since the graphs are in 10 gram increments, round the projectile weight to the closest 10 gram amount and locate the corresponding graph. This is the 30 gram graph in our example. (show picture of the 30 gram graph)

3) Using the 30 gram graph, find the counterweight amount that best matches the weight of the counterweight that is provided. (1.6 kg for this example) (show picture of 1.6 on 30g graph)

4) Follow the line up for the counterweight amount until it hits the data line. Then follow this amount to the left to identify the target distance (use arrow to show the line that goes up to the curve on the graph then another arrow to show the distance)

5) Round this distance down to the closest whole meter and ask the judges to place the target at that amount (19 meters in this example).

[Tredude]

Thanks wlsguy we will be able use this info. realy appreciate it.

[alongusername]

Since my arm is unstable with a counterweight attached to it, I've built a box to hold the counterweight. Is this allowed, because it may contribute more power to the launch?

[JSGandora]

It shouldn't violate the rules. The rules state state rules for if you use a hook. However, the alternative to the "if" can only be a box (what else would you use?). So using a box should not be a problem.

[fleet130]

There is nothing that says you can't use a box, so it isn't against the rules. If the weight of the box contributes energy to the launch it violates paragraph 3f of the rules (commonly known as the energy rule).

[JSGandora]

Isn't that kind of hard to determine? Any box contributes to the weight of the counterweight thus contributing to the energy...no matter how small. I think that as long as the arm is in resting position, and the counterweight does not fall without the actual counterweight inside the box, then it is fine.

[fleet130]

Yes, it can be difficult to determine if you are violating the energy rule, especially without being able to examine your device. If the box falls without a counterweight, it almost certainly violates the energy rule. One fix is to add more mass to the other side of the arm until the box (without a counterweight) no longer falls. Of course this diverts some of the energy away from accelerating the projectile to accelerating the additional mass on the other end of the arm. The result is less distance.

When paragraph 3.f says "any position", it means any every possible position the device can be placed in. It does not mean just one position you choose.